First Bevell, now Tom Cable leaves Seahawks as well
The Seahawks already let Darrell Bevell go Tuesday. Now offensive line coach Tom Cable joins him in the unemployment line.
In a move just as widely expected (and eagerly anticipated) by many 12s, Tom Cable will no longer be the most excited coach on the staff. At least not with the Seahawks. With this move and the strong possibility of even more coming, the Seahawks are looking at a huge turnover on the sidelines, perhaps even more than what we anticipate on the field.
Cable was regarded as a top offensive line coach for several years. It probably helped that Marshawn Lynch was running behind guys like Max Unger and Russell Okung. Once the offensive line talent was diminished through trades and free agency, Cable’s genius was called into question, deservedly so.
While many have said Seattle never addressed their personnel needs on the offensive line, that simply wasn’t true this year. The Seahawks tried to sign T.J. Lang, who opted for Detroit due to his wife’s ties there. They did get guard Luke Joeckel, then added tackle Duane Brown. Brown easily graded out as the best tackle for the Seahawks, and 26th in the league. Joeckel didn’t fare as well overall, but he was still Seattle’s best guard.
The running game doomed Tom Cable
Despite the modest infusion of talent, the Seahawks offense remained stagnant. We covered that earlier when discussing Darrell Bevell’s departure. Even more damning was the awful performance of the running game. That was Tom Cable’s responsibility. The injury to Chris Carson certainly hurt. Eddie Lacy’s awful performance didn’t help either. But most damning to me was another back’s performance for another team.
Alex Collins only gained 125 yards in his rookie year with Seattle in 2016. Despite multiple injuries in the Seahawks backfield, he could never establish himself. The signing of Lacy and emergence of Carson made Collins the odd man out in this season’s training camp.
So what did Collins do? He lead the Ravens in rushing with 973 yards and six touchdowns. That’s five more touchdowns than all Seahawks running backs combined, and just 70 yards less than all Seahawks backs. So maybe the blocking scheme had something to do with it after all.
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Cable is still a respected figure in many circles, especially by his own players. Here’s Justin Britt’s rather succinct reaction:
https://twitter.com/JustinBritt68/status/951222338153951232
Like Darrell Bevell, Tom Cable did a fine job for the Seahawks for several years. Regardless of how much of the collapse was his fault, the offensive line play was his responsibility. And no one can say the line was anything but bad in 2017. The blame falls to Cable.